Apple is reportedly in talks to buy a majority stake in Renesas SP Drivers imaging chips firm. The firm has been designing LCD display chips for Apple for some time, and Apple is prepared to pay ¥50 billion (US$483 million) to buy the 55% stake of the company currently held by Renesas Electronics Corp. According to Nikkei:

Apple expects to complete the stake purchase by summer. The U.S. company "apparently wants to meld" the design of core display components into its overall product development as image quality becomes a crucial selling point for smartphones, the Nikkei said.

The other 45% of Renesas SP Drivers is owned by a combination of Sharp and Powerchip, holding 25% and 20% respectively. Sharp is apparently willing to sell their stake to Apple as well, if only Apple would ask — and that would be another ¥22 billion (US$220 million).

Apple has been progressively moving more and more of their chip design in-house, both in an effort to build more efficient and customized chips, as well as to move business away from rival Samsung.

12/27/2013

Each year I round-up my top list of applications and utilities used the most throughout the year. Without further introduction, here are all the utilities that have been especially useful in enhancing my productivity during 2013.

SoftBank, the Japanese owner of third-ranked U.S. wireless carrier Sprint, plans to make an offer for T-Mobile in spring. The two businesses would likely be integrated with Sprint, according to Nikkei.

Rumors of the takeover plan first started circulating earlier this month. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has aggressive plans for the American wireless market; his SoftBank spent more than $20 billion to acquire Sprint in a deal that was closed earlier this year. T-Mobile is the fourth-ranked US wireless carrier; both T-Mobile and Sprint have been in a race to build out 4G LTE networks to keep pace with larger rivals Verizon and AT&T.

Nikkei reports that Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile US's parent company, is pushing SoftBank to offer cash and other transactions to what was initially envisioned by SoftBank as a stock swap.

Even if SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom put together a deal that works for both parties in principle, it's still subject to regulatory approval. It was only two years ago that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) put the brakes on a merger between T-Mobile and AT&T, citing reduced competition as detrimental to U.S. consumers.

Both Sprint and T-Mobile are far behind their larger rivals when it comes to network buildout and, more importantly, subscriber base - and even the two smaller competitors combined would still fall short of AT&T's subscriber base. So it's entirely possible that the DOJ and FCC might view a merger of the two smaller companies in a different light than the AT&T deal.

For SoftBank, it's all about economy of scale and control of spectrum - adding another 45 million customers gives the company more muscle when negotiating deals with cell phone manufacturers.

12/26/2013

This past Friday, Bloomberg TV anchor Matt Miller took an on-air opportunity to give the gift of Bitcoin to two of his fellow anchors during his "12 Days of Bitcoin" segment. And in a beautiful twist of karmic justice, punishment for running such an absurd segment in the first place, every last digitally invested cent was stolen immediately.

12/24/2013

It's usually one or the other. If you live in a big city, you forgo nature and stars in the sky. And if you live under the starry night sky, you're out in the boonies far away from civilization. But what if you can have both?

12/23/2013

BlackBerry has announced that its BlackBerry Messenger app for Android will be preloaded on LG smartphones, with the LG G Pro Lite being the first come bundled with the messaging service. The decision to preload BBM on the G Pro Lite initially suggests that the companies are targeting emerging markets with the move — the entry-level 5.5-inch handset is sold in Russia, China, India and the Middle East.

Today's announcement follows recent hints from BlackBerry that it'd secured deals with "leading OEMs" to preinstall BBM on Android handsets. BBM will continue to be available as a free, standalone app for Android and iOS, the company says.

On December 21st, 1968, three men left earth and became the first humans to orbit the moon. Their entire journey was legendary, and even 45 years later watching Apollo 8 launch is almost heart-stopping.